In Stars
by Asukasammy
Summary: (LotR/Star Wars)takes place during the New Jedi Order series and shortly after the War of the Ring. Anagha grew up among the Elves on Middle-Earth and now must return to warn them about a danger even greater than the one ring
1. Proloque

He remembered the planet from his youth. It had seemed like a dream back then, a world completely separate from the high paced technologically ruled universe he was used to. Wild and free, unknown to anyone but its inhabitants. A haven.  
  
That's why he had chosen it as his exile.  
  
He set the freighter down in a clearing of sorts and covered it quickly with a camouflage net. There would be plenty of time to move it later, once he found a good enough hiding spot for it, but there was someone he had to see first.  
  
He only hoped that they still remembered him.  
  
He knew that he would never forget them.  
  
He paused only long enough to gather a packed duffel from the hold and to settle the squirming toddler into a sling across his back. Then he was off, traveling as quickly as he could across the uneven terrain of the forest. The child cooed in delight, clapping her hands once before tangling them in his curly striped hair.  
  
He stopped once to feed the girl and to search in the bag for something, frightened that he had forgotten it even though he knew he hadn't. He sighed in relief when he found it, smiling when the girl reached for the artfully twisted and shaped piece of jewelry. The only souvenir she had allowed him to keep.  
  
Laughing lightly he leaned his forehead against hers, feeling more at ease than he had in years. Soon they would be safe from the universe. No enemies would find him here.  
  
A few minutes later they were moving again, the delicate looking brooch held tightly in one hand.  
  
He never knew when he crossed the border; all of a sudden the forest around him was different. It was quieter and the trees around him seemed to be listening.  
  
He paused for a moment to take in the familiar sights and smells.  
  
Even though his own world had become dangerous and filled with darkness, this place hadn't changed at all.  
  
He doubted it ever would.  
  
He closed his eyes remembering how happy they'd all been. He could almost hear their laughter floating through the wind. The last peaceful days, before the world had descended into chaos.  
  
The hair on the back of his neck stirred and he looked up to find several arrows pointed at him despite the child on his back. Several pale tall figures watched him carefully; nearly human except for the wisdom in their eyes and their odd almost pointed ears.  
  
Elves.  
  
Their leader asked him something in an odd lyrical tongue that was like music to those who heard it. The man shook his head to show that he didn't understand. He'd never been able to learn it like his leader had all those years ago. Instead he held out the silver brooch, tinted green in areas and shaped like a leaf.  
  
"Please," He asked in stumbling westron, "I need to see the Lady of the Wood, Galadriel."  
  
The elves drew their bows even tighter and the man was forced to continue on. "I'm a friend, I've come here before. I was with two others then, we had come in search of another of our order." He pulled down his hood carefully, so it did not cover the child's face, to reveal his hair, still black and stripped with silver. "I was the apprentice, Jalaal Firrerreo, a Jedi."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"So, all that Master Kenobi told us is true then," The golden Elvin queen regarded him with wise blue eyes. Her blonde hair was loose for the most part and she shone with an inner light. "The Jedi have been destroyed and Mistress Fatin is dead."  
  
The man looked up at her in surprise. He vaguely remembered the Jedi whose search for her apprentice had brought them here so many years ago. "Master Kenobi told you?"  
  
Galadriel nodded and Celeborn continued for her, "The apprentice, the girl, Aine, felt it when she died. Her screams nearly woke up the entire wood, she left soon after Master Kenobi did."  
  
Jalaal nodded and turned to watch the child playing with several Elvin women not far away. She laughed as one held her up so she could touch the she-elf's hair. Her own hair flashed coppery in the sun, stripped like his own it showed that they were no more human the creatures around them. He sighed, wondering what, his daughter, Nifeera would think of this place. So many hopes and dreams destroyed by one man, one they had considered a friend.  
  
"Such a wonderful child," Galadriel murmured as she surveyed at the man before them. "Why did you come here, Firrerre? Mistress Fatin had said that we would be left alone. Any documents of this place would to be destroyed, so we could be forgotten."  
  
"They were..." The Jedi sighed and turned back to them. He raised his hand and tapped a knuckle against his temple. "Memories, however, are another matter entirely. I had no choice, Palpatine would not have stopped until he found Nifeera and ...and she was already growing weak." He blinked back tears remembering the last time he had seen his granddaughter. She'd been so pale and tired, nothing at all like the laughing girl he remembered. "She made me take Anagha and promise to keep her safe.  
  
"We won't be in Lothlorien long...I just need to find someplace else to stay until we can return..."  
  
The Lady of the Wood's gaze flicked back and forth from him to the girl, Anagha. Finally she glanced at her husband. "There is a place...."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
1.1 Fourteen Years Later  
  
They buried the still form in a grove deep within the heart of the wood near Rivendell. Arwen watched the body as it went into the ground, finding it hard to believe that it had ever been Jalaal the wanderer. She gave the shoulders of the girl before her a squeeze meant to be comforting, but doubted Anagha felt it.  
  
Jalaal's niece made no sound as she watched the burial ceremony before her. Her face was as stone, showing no emotion, her black eyes cold were days before they had been shining with laughter. Arwen had heard of people being stoic, but there was something about the human's manner that scared her. Ever since finding her uncle on the trail three days previously, Anagha had wandered the halls of Rivendell looking at the world around her as if she was saying good-bye.  
  
Arwen Evenstar had spoken with her father, Lord Elrond, about it once, worried that the human might try to do something rash and stupid like taking her own life. But the Lord of Rivendell had merely waved it off, telling Arwen that the girl was much more intelligent than that. She was merely in shock and worried about her own mortality, he had continued. The old man had been the center of Anagha's world; they had traveled all of Middle-Earth together. All she needed was some time and the child would snap out of it, he was sure.  
  
But Elrond wasn't around the child daily like Arwen was now and had been whenever Jalaal and Anagha visited Rivendell. The elf sighed, wishing there was more she could do or say.  
  
Someone tugged on her sleeve and she found Anagha looking up at her, silent and watchful.  
  
"Will you promise me something?" The girl asked in elvish, her voice little more than whisper.  
  
"What?" Arwen asked, deciding to humor the girl who was nearly sixteen now.  
  
"Will you put flowers on his grave and care for it when I'm gone?"  
  
"Anagha, you'll have years to do that...." Arwen's voice died off as she caught the look in the girl's eye.  
  
"Promise me, please?"  
  
"All right," The elf tried to smile in an effort to humor Anagha. "If it'll make you feel better."  
  
The girl sighed in relief and turned back to the funeral. "Thank you."  
  
Arwen stood for several moments after the ceremony ended and watched the girl nervously. Never had she worried this much over a human, not even over her love, Aragorn. Hesitating slightly she asked the girl a question. "Anagha, where are you going?"  
  
The youth stared straight ahead, barely even blinking, her hair as black as the night sky.  
  
Soon the cold night air drove everyone inside, but Anagha remained by the gravesite.  
  
Almost to herself she murmured, "To the stars."  
  
  
  
The next day, Anagha didn't come to breakfast or lunch. When Arwen went to the girl's room to check on her, it was empty. A search of Rivendell and the woods and hills surrounding it revealed nothing of the human's whereabouts. Messengers were sent to the villages and towns Jalaal had been known to frequent with Anagha, they returned with no word of the human girl.  
  
It seamed Anagha had simply disappeared off the face of Middle-Earth.  
  
Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months to years. Remembering her promise to the odd girl, Arwen tended to the gravesite. 


	2. Chapter 1

The world hung like a child's marble suspended in the vastness of space. Through the transparisteel view port the cabin's sole occupant occasionally got glimpses of green covered continents and deep blue seas through dense white and gray clouds. It was nearly identical to a thousand other planets flung across the galaxy, the only unique things separating it being the shape of its continents and the fact that it had not yet been captured despite its close proximity to the invasion path.  
  
The pilot sighed, resting her chin on her crossed arms, and tried to banish all thoughts of the invaders from her mind. She should be happy that the planet had somehow survived. Ecstatic, even: Others had not been so lucky.  
  
Whenever the Yuuzhan Vong captured a planet they reshaped it to their desires, employing horrible biologically created beasts and organisms to change the chemical make-up of the world, if they didn't outright destroy it, sacrificing the inhabitants or enslaving them. She'd been there at Ithor and had witnessed the destruction first hand. What had once been a thriving planet was rendered uninhabitable in a matter of moments. The thriving forests and plains reduced to slime covered deserts.  
  
Yet despite the war waging around it, Middle-Earth was untouched. A haven like it had been during the first decade of her life.  
  
Anagha had half expected it to find it already enslaved, one of the Vong's huge worldships waiting in ambush for the much smaller New Republic Correllian Corvette, with enough coralskippers, the Vong's living starfighters, to easily decimate the two hastily slapped together squadrons at her command.  
  
It had been a long journey, from the awkward teenager she'd been when she'd left to the battle hardened commander she was now.  
  
Trista had been furious when she'd found out. The woman had been Anagha's hero for ages; she'd grown up listening to tales from her uncle Jalaal about the diminutive Jedi. She'd thought for sure that the older woman would understand.  
  
The Old Republic style Jedi had lectured her on what a waste the expedition would be. It would remove valuable pilots from the front, draining the New Republic's resources, and, Trista had gone on to point out, it could very well lead the Vong straight to Middle- Earth. The planet, she felt, was quite capable of protecting itself without the New Republic meddling in its affairs.  
  
Anagha had automatically questioned how the Jedi knew that Middle-Earth was safe. It was well known that Trista's methods were extremely different from Luke Skywalker's, or any Jedi he had trained, but whenever she tried to sense Middle-Earth through the Force, all she got was a vague foggy impression. But then Anagha was hardly known for being adept at using the Force.  
  
"Well you haven't exactly seen any Hobbits, Dwarves or Elves running around as Vong slaves or used in any sacrifices have you?" The Jedi had pointed out, crossing her arms over chest before pulling at her lower lip.  
  
Anagha steepled her fingers and pressed her thumbs against her forehead. She'd continued to worry about this same thing every single minute on the weeklong hyperspace journey here. The New Republic was too technologically advanced; Middle-Earth's far more medireview culture would never be able to catch up. Which was why, she reminded herself, precautions would be taken. This was to be fact- finding mission only, there was to be no interaction with the inhabitants if possible. A selected few would go in, judge the situation, and, if there was a threat… Anagha could only hope that there wasn't, going down that course would require too many explanations for too many people…and as Trista had said days earlier; any interaction could very well destroy the innocence that was Middle- Earth.  
  
The door whisked open behind Anagha, revealing a tall humanoid figure with two long snakelike tails, called Lekku, where hair would normally be on a human. The bright orange of the Twi'lek's flight suit clashed horribly with her blue skin. She threw Anagha a quick salute before reporting that the pilots from both Outrigger and Outlander Squadrons were waiting in the ready-room. The door shut quickly behind her retreating form.  
  
Anagha sighed; she had her orders…  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
In Minis Tirith, Arwen was awakened by the sudden emptiness in next to her in bed. She opened her eyes and sat up to find Aragorn, King Elessar, dressed and pulling on his boots.  
  
The former ranger saw her and flashed her a slight smile. "One of Faramir's men found something on patrol, and they want me to look at it."  
  
Arwen sighed, she had been married to Aragorn for a year now and was used to him going off to lead a band of men to hunt orcs or to judge some dispute occasionally. "When will you be back?"  
  
"In an hour or so." Seeing her confused look he quickly added, "They brought it here."  
  
He grabbed his cloak from the chair and quickly came over and kissed her lightly. "It's probably nothing, go back to sleep."  
  
The former elf nodded and watched his retreating back as he left the chamber, knowing that it probably was something. Faramir would not leave Ithilien and Eowyn for just anything.  
  
"They found it in the forest near a town," Faramir quickly explained as he and Aragorn headed through the streets of Minis Tirith towards the lower gate. In the East the sky was hazy with the beginning of dawn. My men would have dismissed it as just another Orc but Beregond didn't like how it looked. It's too tall to be either an Uruk-hai or an Orc…and neither of those are as mutilated as this is."  
  
Two guards stood in front of an old house that had been cleared of any occupants. They both gave the King a salute before one stepped forward to open the heavy oak door. Aragorn went inside, easily brushing aside the curtain that separated the entryway from the main room, Faramir close behind him.  
  
The first thing he noticed was the smell, reminding him of a battlefield where the dead waited to be buried, baking in the sun. Then he saw the stiff form stretched out on the table in the middle of the room. He stepped closer, ignoring the men who saluted him before moving back into the shadows as they covered their faces with rags in the process.  
  
The thing was tall and vaguely human looking, but there any similarities between it and any race of Middle-Earth stopped. The forehead sloped back dramatically from an over pronounced brow, all the other features looked like severe comical replicas from a crudely carved child's toy. The nose bridge was flattened against the face; the very tip of it was neatly excised along with any cartilage underneath. It had no lips, and long wide gashes slashed across its cheeks showed sharp, decaying teeth. Tattoos covered its head, scalp and any other peace of skin that showed. The armor was hard and crab- like, reminding him of the crustaceans that inhabited the shallow streams and ponds he had occasionally come across in his wanderings. Horns protruded from its shoulders, elbows, and knees, rough raised scars surrounding them. Underneath the skin, he could see rough raised knobs and indentations that weren't made of muscle.  
  
A long slender staff was clutched in its hand with a sharp point at one end and a flat diamond-like head at the other. Scales covered its length, reminding Aragorn of a sleek serpent. Almost unconsciously he reached out a finger and touched its back surprised by its warmth.  
  
The thing immediately came to life, writhing out of its owner's hand and spitting a thick green glob at one of the men across the room. Faramir quickly slid his sword out of its scabbard and unceremoniously hacked at the creature's head. His sword shattered but not before the creature stilled and went limp, its head bouncing once on the straw covered floor. In the corner the man who had been hit with the poison gasped for air as he lay in one of his comrade's arms, a large hole burned through his chest.  
  
Not unused to battle, Aragorn walked out of the house and into the clear air outside. He took several deep breaths and then sent one of the guards running for his messengers with a single word. If there were more of those creatures out there all of Gondor and Rohan would have to be warned, along with the Shire and the Elves. Also, he would have one rider sent after Gandalf; no doubt he would need the wizard's advice in this. 


	3. Chapter 2

There was a battle waging around him . . .and his side was quickly beginning to lose despite their obvious advantages over the masses of metal warriors they faced. He stared at them numbly as his fingers felt for a pulse at the throut of the young man at his feet.  
  
      Unbidden, a quiet voice quickly gave him a name for them: Battle droids, they were called, and this unfamiliar red and dry planet he was on was Geonosis.  
  
      He had been caught, tried, and sentenced to a gladiator style execution for espionage. His apprentice and the young senator that his apprentice was sworn to protect had also been caught and were supposed to die with him. Only the ordeal hadn't gone quite like the separatists had planned: They had fought back, and others had come to join them . . .  
  
      And now there were only twenty of them left. All the rest were dead, all because of him.  
  
      Just like those little halflings back on Amon Hen. He had failed there too; he had tried to take the Ring from Frodo, and now Merry and Pippin were probably dead because of him. If only…  
  
      He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts. The young man at his feet was one with the force now.  
  
      The battle droids were aiming their blasters at them again. He stood and ignited his weapon again in preparation.  
  
      It was light in his hand, completely different from another weapon he had used once.  
  
      Then the Senator shouted something and he looked up to see several aircraft landing in a formation around them. White clad warriors poured out of their sides and began to shoot at the battle droids around them. In a matter of seconds the battle had turned in their favor and now a full- fledged war had begun.  
  
      Yet war was nothing new to him...Hadn't he spent most of his life defending his people from the forces of Mordor?  
  
      He scrambled into one of the nearest gunships, grabbing the delicate feminine hand a person offered to him. He looked up to find a young woman smiling at him, her clear gray eyes full of amusement and a deep sorrow at the same time. He gave her a quick smile, both surprised and relieved she was here. "What took you so long?"  
  
      The girl laughed and brushed a stray strand of light brown hair behind an ear. Despite the complicated braids in her hair, several strands had somehow managed to escape. "You know how the Master's can be, debating over everything." She stumbled as the ship took off and he grabbed her around the waist quickly to steady her. She flashed him a quick smile before wrapping a hand around his belt: she had been tall once, but this new form, while far from short, couldn't quite reach the handholds set overhead. "And Master Yoda can be such a back-seat flier, and then there was all that traffic along the Rishee maze, and the Kaminoans..."  
  
      "All right, all right." While he loved to banter with her, now was hardly the time. He watched the ground flow by beneath them, more warriors of their type- Jedi, the calm voice said- leading the white soldiers into more battles. He slid his free hand over hers where she gripped his belt tightly. She'd been so lost for so long. "I'm glad you're back, Trista."  
  
      The girl- Trista, the voice absently corrected- looked up at him, but uncharacteristically didn't smile for once. "It's good to be back."  
  
      The vision was as gone as soon as it had come and he was floating in the thick heavy liquid he was it seemed he had always been in. He knew better, he had memories of other places and people, but some part of him unconsciously thought otherwise.  
  
      Sensing someone watching him, he jerked his head around towards the clear wall behind him separating this chamber from the next, the movement filling his mouth and nose with the substance. It was cloyingly sweet and he choked on it, swallowing more of it in the effort to rid his mouth of its taste.    
  
      A soft feathery presence reached out to him and he felt his panic dissipate like fog in the summer sun. The presence was peaceful much like the voice in his dreams, but far more feminine in essence. All he wanted to do was sleep; his eyelids already felt heavy like he had drank too much mead. He forced them to stay open, fighting with the feathery presence. This happened whenever he felt someone watching him, was it really all that harmful to know who his rescuer was? Hadn't he had enough sleep?  
  
      The presence consented that he had slept a lot, but there was still more work that needed to be done. He needed sleep to be able to recuperate, and this fighting was causing him more stress...couldn't he just obey her just this once?  
  
      But he had obeyed her, often in the past, and her promises were never fulfilled.  
  
      He could feel her frustration build at his stubbornness, but she was also very pleased with his progress. All in good time, she told him.  
  
      Sleep began to fog his brain, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.      
  
      The last thing he remembered seeing through the hazy pink light of the liquid was a pale feminine hand pressed against the glass. A hand he recognized from his dream . . . which was impossible. While the vision had been very vivid, he had had the impression of the events taking place long ago...     
  
      ...And yet the girl in the dream had looked so like the rescuer he had only had a glimpse of months ago, when he had been lying at the bottom of the falls already dead.  
  
      His thoughts became too complex for him to remember and he mentally began to stumble over the image of the pale hand on the glass and the pale hand that had grabbed his hand in the dream.  
  
      It was impossible...only elves could live that long, and that girl was most certainly not an elf...and yet his coming back to life was impossible, was it not?  
  
      In the end the feathery presence in his brain won out, and his thoughts faded as he was wrapped in the comforting oblivion of sleep.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Middle-Earth had grown larger; its Southern hemisphere now dominated the view-port showing oceans and land that was unknown. Her eyes were drawn to it unconsciously as she waited for the pilots she had chosen for the scouting mission landing team to report. A slight smile touched her lips as she imagined how they would react when they finally found out they would be her wingmates on this mission. General Antilles had done the same thing to her a few times when she had been in Rogue Squadron, and it had infuriated her everytime. While he had always told them it was for security she had never really understood. Not until now.  
  
      Galianna, the blue twi-lekk and Outrigger squadron's XO, stood next to the view-port. Her lekku danced and twitched nervously, the tattoos on them blurring with the movement.  
  
      Anagha sighed, wishing that she could take the ex-dancer with her. It would be odd not having Galianna to watch her back: they had been wingmates for nearly a decade now and friends for even longer.  
  
      She opened her mouth, starting to say something when the cabin's door opened with an audible whoosh and two humans came running in. One came to a quick stop before her and gave her a salute before dropping into attention; the other rolled his eyes at the courtesy and smiled rakishly. "So I was right, huh? We're going to be the ones that drop."    
  
She watched them covertly from the corner of her eyes, and pretended to continue studying the world before her. The first, a girl just out of the New Republic Flight Academy, Flight Officer Leeni Onoy, was small and daintily made, able to fit into a fighter cockpit with tons of room to spare. Her eyes where a neutral hazel, set in a pixyish face framed by severely short hair. The other, formally known as Lieutenant Gryan Kenner, was only a head or so taller than his wingmate. His curly sun-bleached hair was made of varying shades of bronze and was long enough for it to just brush his jawbones. That feature, along with his golden brown eyes and too perfect tan, had led him to be forever dubbed Goldie by the squadron.  
  
      For a split second his wingmate forgot protocol and turned to stare at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. Anagha rolled her own eyes, wondering whom in starfighter command she had offended to get stuck with the flirt. Behind her, Galianna barely managed to assume a neutral expression, her lekku dancing with laughter.  
  
      "What d'you mean, 'drop'?" The female pilot demanded, whipping back around to stare at her commanding officer.  
  
      Anagha ignored her question and waited patiently while Lt. Kenner launched easily into an explanation. Though they weren't supposed to come into any contact with the planet's inhabitants, the only beings they would recognize should anything happen were Humans: "Which eliminates about three- fourths of the squadron. Of the fourth remaining, you and I are the only ones who are the most 'normal' looking and supposedly the least intimidating. Besides, we're the only ones who were given black flight suits and whose x-wing's and astromech droids are missing from the hold," He gave Anagha a quick look. " They're probably being painted right now, aren't they?"  
  
      Galianna nodded and glanced down at her data-pad. " They're waiting for you in the shuttle's hold."  
  
      "I love it when I'm right." He pumped his arm triumphantly and smiled at his wingmate who continued to stare at him horrified. " Oh, loosen up Leeni. The Commander here doesn't bite...at least not too badly."  
  
      Anagha rolled her eyes again at his conspirital wink. "So how big of a pot was there this time, Goldie?"  
  
      The girl, Leeni, chortled at the nickname, and a little muscle twitched in the man's cheek. It was fairly well known he hated being called Goldie as much as he had a soft spot for gambling, something that had gotten him kicked out of two squadrons before he had ended up under Anagha's command. "Twenty hundred credits and two sunfire jewels...if the pilot's homeplanet hasn't been invaded by the Vong yet that is."  
  
      "Which you won, of course?"  
  
      "Of course." His brown eyes were full of amusement. Anagha sighed; he'd never change. "Well then...since you've already figured everything out, I won't have to explain it all to you again will I?"     
  
      Goldie continued to grin and Leeni saluted her again. "No, ma'am."  
  
      "One thing, though, Commander?" Goldie piped up as she was halfway to the door.  
  
      She turned back to face him, "What now, Lt. Kenner?"  
  
      "We were chosen because we're 'normal' looking humans right? Well, while your hair is natural for a Firrerre and is very pretty... shouldn't you try to dye it? Stripped hair isn't normal for a human." He continued to smile his idiotic grin.  
  
      Anagha glared at him, cursing the fact that she had been so busy making sure everyone else was prepared for the mission that she had forgotten her own preparations. "Well, as we won't be coming into any contact with the people of Middle-Earth, that shouldn't be a problem should it?"     
  
      "No, it shouldn't...but don't you think you should, y'know, just in case? Your blond and copper hair's gonna stand out awfully bright if we come across anything."  
  
      "Get to your ship now, Lt. Kenner. We launch in ten minutes." With that she turned and left the room, Galianna close behind her. She rubbed her forehead in an attempt to fight off the headache that she was beginning to get.  
  
      This was going to be a long mission.... 


	4. Chapter 3

The shuttle hold of Noquizvor's Reward was polished and in pristine condition; the exact opposite of the scratched and worn out flight deck used to store the x-wings and other starfighters.  
  
      Anagha preferred chaos to cleanliness. Granted everything had a place in the shuttle hold, and you always knew where to find something, but the flight deck had been tested several times over. There you knew things worked and didn't just look pretty.  
  
      Nothing could stay this perfect for long.  
  
      She smiled when she saw the extremes the mechanics had taken her orders to: Three matte black x-wings sat in the middle of the shinning metal deck with matching astromech droids. What parts couldn't be painted had been scratched up to prevent shine, and the flickering lights that gave the droids some semblance of life were now dimmed or turned off if possible.  
  
      Goldie leaned against the landing gear of one ship, unsuccessfully trying to make conversation with the owner of the boots dangling out of a small compartment in the nose of one of the x-wings. He had pulled his chin length hair into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck to keep it out of his face during flight, and dark splotches of grease streaked his cheeks. With the excess of blasters, power packs, and weapons hanging from various straps attached to his black flight suit, he looked like a demented special ops reject from Wraith Squadron.  
  
      Anagha sighed and snorted to herself at the overkill, she shoved her small tightly packed satchel into luggage hold set just forward of the x- wing's engines. She trailed a hand along the keel as she walked towards the ship's bow, straining to hear her pilot's conversation.  
  
      Before she could reach them though, the pilot wearing the boots dropped expertly from the other x-wing's nose and turned to face her wingmate. "They took out the torps. And the lasers! They cut the power to the lasers on top of it! How do they expect us to defend ourselves if we don't have any proton torpedoes or guns?"  
  
      "I imagine we'll just have to use our wits and out run them if the occasion arises." Anagha allowed herself a small smile as she watched the female pilots- Leeni; she always had trouble with the newer recruit's names- turn a bright red. "Extra fuel was considered to be more valuable than defenses during the planning stages of this expedition, and cutting the lasers allows us to up the power to our sensor packets, so we can see any dangers and avoid them before our enemies can sense and exploit our weaknesses."  
  
      Which, Anagha continued to herself silently, wasn't much of a safety net considering much of Middle-Earth's defenses were based on magic, which, like the force, was damn near impossible for a machine to sense and register.  
  
      Goldie grinned as Leeni skipped protocol and didn't turn to salute her commanding officer. Instead, the girl continued to keep her back to Anagha, her shoulders tense as she continued to glare at the deck in front of her. "Friggin' stupid politicians, cutting costs and risking lives just to save money."  
  
      Goldie drew himself up to his full height, "The commander's the one that made the final decision, she wouldn't ask us to do..."  
  
      "Lt. Kenner." Anagha shot him a cutting glance and the pilot shut up, coming immediately to an attention. Ignoring him, she returned her eyes to the girl in front of her, slightly stunned by what she had heard Leeni mumble. "What was that I heard you say, Flight Officer Onoy?"  
  
      The girl finally turned around to face Anagha, and the firrerreo had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Leeni's face was practically covered with the same dark grease Goldie had used on his cheeks. She glanced quickly at the man again, and saw that he had tucked his chin to his chest in an attempt to escape her eyes and was barely just managing to contain his own chuckles. Anagha rolled her eyes, why did she have to be surrounded by adolescents?  
  
      "I said that the politicians were risking our lives by cutting costs."  
  
      "If cutting costs on this mission helps the New Republic rescue one more person from a Yuuzhan Vong invaded world, then I, personally, believe it's worth the risk. Also, like I said before, by getting rid of the torpedoes we're able to carry more fuel- which will allow us to later rendivous with the Noquizvor's Reward, as it'll be jumping a tad bit further out-system after we launch."  
  
      Even Goldie's eyes widened at this unexpected bit of news. " But I thought you said the population wasn't technologically far enough...."  
  
      "That doesn't mean that they don't stargaze. This isn't the time of year for their meteor showers, and they'll notice if they suddenly gain a new satellite. Now get to your ships, we launch soon." She watched as they both started to trot off to their respective x-wings, "and Goldie?"  
  
      "Yes?"  
  
        
  
      "Loose the blasters, this is a scouting expedition, not a combat mission." She closed her eyes for a second. "And if there's a rag handy, have Leeni wipe off her face. We don't, and won't, have time for jokes once we land."  
  
Goldie groaned in response.  
  
*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*  
  
A horse wandered in the woods alone, grazing off of the patchy grass that grew in clumps wherever enough sunlight broke through the crowded tree branches above. It's leather saddle had slid to the side, held on only by a few torn and stretched braided cords that had once been a girth: the saddle- bags and rider had disappeared long ago.  
  
      The horse had become a slave to its hunger, forgetting the nightmarish scene it had been involved in only hours earlier at dusk. It nibbled at the weak and scrawny grass, missing the sweet meals of mixed feed that had been given to him daily before. It's nose quivered as it caught a familiar scent and it whickered softly to itself as it discovered a small pile of oats near a tall ash tree. It lipped at them, eating them quickly as soon as it decided that there was nothing wrong with them. Another pile was found shortly after the horse devoured the first, and yet another after the second. With each small pile it came closer to the tree, and the horse snorted in disgust when a fifth pile was not found waiting among the ash's roots.  
  
      It flicked it's ears at a small sound behind it, just the merest whisper of the wind in the fallen leaves, and turned it's head to find a hand spilling over with oats just beneath it's muzzle. Another hand, long with slender fingers just like it's twin, crept up to the horse's bridle, a soft ethereal voice whispering to it in an ancient tongue to calm it.  
  
        
  
      The horse only snorted to itself once again, caring nothing for the words or their meaning, wanting only the sweet pile of roasted grain in front of it.  
  
      Legolas Greenleaf stroked the beast's neck, his eyes trailing over the familiar cut of the tack. A Gondor message rider, judging by the low almost non-existent pommel and cantle. The leather tube that would normally carry any messages was gone though; broken hemp straps on the cantle the only testimony that a message had ever existed.  
  
      The elf sighed to himself, smiling only slightly when the horse pulled at his tunic in an attempt to find more oats. It had to have been a fairly important message for King Elessar, his old friend Aragorn, to have sent out a horse and rider. While horses were not as rare in Gondor as they had been a year ago, they were still too valuable of a resource to be wasted unwisely.  
  
      Another Elf, a member of his company, stepped up to his leader's side, "We found traces of an ambush several yards from here, but no trace of the rider: just some broken arrows and a few Orc bodies."  
  
      Legolas nodded and combed his fingers through the horse's mane in a half-hearted attempt to unravel the many knots and tangles. What had the message held? Had the King of Gondor sent it to warn Mirkwood of the very same danger Legolas meant to warn Gondor of?  
  
      It had been weeks since they had found the warrior in the woods, but it seemed like only days: so vivid was the memory of the deformed and decayed corpse in his mind. There had been tracks of others, at least twenty or thirty, but that wasn't what worried Legolas the most...  
  
 Somehow, the warriors had come and gone, passing by and sometimes trespassing on the borders of Mirkwood, and not a single guard had been aware of them.  
  
      The horse started suddenly: Legolas's firm grip on it's bridle and reins the only thing keeping it from bolting. It rolled its eyes in fear; it's nostrils wide from catching an unfamiliar scent. The tall elf started whispering to it again in an effort to calm it, wondering what in the world could have frightened it this time. He could hear nothing unusual on the wind, and they were completely alone in this part of the forest. He saw a few of his fellow elfs step out of the shadows in case he needed any help.  
  
 Something ahead of them and above them parted the leaves and branches of the forest canopy as easily as a canoe slipping through the current, giving them a brief view of the clear night sky pinpricked with stars before they were lost behind the curtain of endless leaves again. The warm breeze washed over them, thick with an invisible acrid smoke that burnt the mouth and nose with its bitterness.  
  
      Legolas saw three sleek black creatures, far larger than Gwaihir, the great eagle, yet smaller than the smallest of the legendary dragons, sweep overhead. Faded lights marked their wings and an eerie glow surrounded their hindquarters... then they were gone as quickly as they had come, disappearing into the night, the acrid scent in the air the only evidence of their passage.  
  
      He stared after them, barely noticing that the horse's bridle hung limply from his hand: the horse having torn itself free of it to escape the dark beasts. He dropped it finally and glanced at the members of his company who continued to stare at the sky stunned.  
  
      He ran, following the smell that was the only trail, the other elves falling quickly and equally quietly behind him.  
  
      Would Middle-Earth never have peace? 


	5. Chapter 4

The three x-wings sailed on the air like eagles, the forest underneath them an ocean of green hues, broken here and there by island like clearings with a mountain range rising like the crest of a wave over the landscape. Anagha regarded the scenery distantly, trying not to let her emotions at seeing her old home overcome her: there was work to be done, and she couldn't afford to be distracted.  
  
The mission launch had gone smoothly, with Galiana setting up watches of two pilots to stay in a geosyncrinious orbit over Middle-Earth to intercept and relay any comm traffic between the landing team and the Noquizvor's Reward, which had moved further out system as soon as Anagha and her team had left the shuttle hold. On their approach to the planet, they hadn't been challenged by any coral skips, the Vong's version of a starfighter, and she had begun to think that maybe, just maybe, Middle-earth had beaten the odds....  
  
Then she had seen the battlefields that scarred the countryside.  
  
Most of it was already beginning to heal, her scanners had picked up new growth where the forest had been cleared near Isengard, but it bothered her nonetheless. Where had all this damage come from if there was no trace of the Yuuzhan Vong? What could have caused such wide-scale destruction?  
  
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and glanced at the tracking screen in front of her. She could worry about that later, right now she needed to find a suitable landing site for them: something close to where they needed to go, but secluded and safe enough that some hunter or ranger wouldn't stumble onto the x-wing's while they were away. The program she'd created based on her uncle's notes quickly highlighted a clearing in Ithilien, and Anagha passed the coordinates on to her wingmates.  
  
The starfighters settled easily in the long grass, the engines dying from a faint roar to silences, while the astromechs beeped and hummed to themselves. Their excited whistles carrying easily in the clear night air.  
  
Anagha hit a switch in the cockpit and jumped onto the deck of her x-wing as soon as the canopy slid out of the way. She walked along it towards the stern and engines, sliding down the hull to one of the wing like stabilizers. The Firrerro paused there, glancing upwards at the pale moon in the star filled sky, complete with a hazy comet traveling slowly against the endless curtain of black. She smiled at the peacefulness of it all and jumped off the stabilizer, dropping effortlessly to the ground below.  
  
"Cheater." Goldie hissed, materializing from the shadows surrounding his x- wing. "We should've brought some ladders: I nearly broke my neck doing that move."  
  
"The extra weight would've slowed us down and wasted fuel." Anagha sighed and brushed her knees off, "and besides, you're young, dangerous stunts should be your stock and trade."  
  
"Ha-ha. Very funny. You'll have a promising career as a comedian when you retire."  
  
"If we're able to."  
  
"Commander?" Leeni's voice was soft and hesitant as she stepped into the dim illumination the running lights casted on the ground. "It's so quiet. Is it supposed to be this quiet?"  
  
Goldie stifled a chortle, "Didn't you read your dossier on the way down?"  
  
"Yes, but."  
  
"Then you should."  
  
"Goldie." The tone in Anagha's voice turned his name into an order, silencing the stick jockey quickly and effectively. She glanced at him briefly before turning her eyes on the younger pilot, noticing for the first time herself that the area was unusually silent. Their arrival had probably scared off any insects or animals, though something in her doubted it making the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She shook her head slightly and sighed, "Leeni, Middle-Earth is severely primitive when compared to Coruscant, or even Yavin IV or Hoth. I thought I'd made that very clear before when I explained why we wouldn't be having any contact with the."  
  
".Locals, yes, but still, shouldn't there be some noise of some sort?" Leeni's face was worried, even frightened.  
  
Anagha shared another look with Goldie then rolled her eyes skyward. "Go and get your pack, Flight Officer Onoy, then get Lt. Kenner to help you camouflage your x-wing when you're ready. I want to be able to move out in 30 minutes."  
  
"Yes, Commander." The petite pilot threw Anagha a quick salute, then trotted off towards her x-wing  
  
Goldie waited until she was out of sight before he said anything. He sighed and ran his fingers through his mass of hair in a useless attempt to tame it, "I was afraid of that."  
  
"Of what?"  
  
"That she might go all spastic on us once we got down here. She's from Coruscant y'know, I doubt she's ever been in a forest in her life."  
  
Anagha quirked an eyebrow as she bent to check her own pack, "Well it would've been nice if you had voiced your doubts before we had landed."  
  
"And miss all the fun of watching her learn how to deal with camping out?" He gave her his most dashing smile, his expression growing wary as he saw her pull a cylindrical metallic object from her pack and clip it to her belt. "You don't think it's going to get that bad do you?"  
  
"No, but it's better to be prepared than to regret."  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
They came across the clearing at dawn. Scorched grass and displaced dirt showed that the creatures had been there, and the acrid smell clung to the air, refusing to be dispelled by the gentle breeze blowing down from the mountains nearby.  
  
Legolas stood at the edge of the clearing, his fierce elven eyes surveying the area around them. The trees behind him, while relatively unharmed, were marked here and there by broken limbs and scorched leaves, and the beasts had obviously rested here at some point during the night. but the forest ahead was unharmed and showed no sign of their passing.  
  
They couldn't have just disappeared. Creatures that large would have left some sort of a trail. It was impossible for them have not to. And yet.  
  
It was a mystery that he doubted even Mithrandir could solve. He turned his gaze skyward, lifting his face to greet the rising sun, watching as the pale light crept over the treetops, shimmering in the space before him.  
  
He snapped his head back down, suddenly very alert, his eyes searching out the anamonaly. The clearing was still the same, the grasses shifting ever so slightly by the light wind. except for right in front of him. There the grass blades stood straight and tall, undisturbed unlike the areas a few meters to either the right or left of him. Now he began to notice other things, how the ground there continued to stay in shadow, lightening a few seconds slower than the rest of the clearing. There were also two other places just like the one directly in front of them, the rising sun reflecting dully off of something hidden and metal.  
  
He began to walk forward slowly, his hands held out in front of him like someone struck blind. Ahead of him the image of the clearing blurred almost imperceptibly, changing ever so slightly as he moved forward. He could hear a soft beeping and chitter, dulled by an unseen wall. The air began to crackle in warning, and snapped around him just as his hair began to rise by some unknown force. He stepped backwards quickly, and the unknown menace relaxed: the air becoming still once more.  
  
One of his companions from Mirkwood materialized from the forest across from him, and gestured for his princes' attention. Legolas ran across the space swiftly, dodging the three unseen predators by a berth of several feet. The other elf pointed at some prints left in the damp forest floor, "Something passed through here, they continue on into the forest."  
  
Legolas nodded and bent to inspect the trail: there were three different pairs of prints, varying in length and shape, and their style reminded him of the boots that the race of men so preferred. He frowned: there were three sets of prints just like there had been three of those creatures last night. Had they changed shape and then moved on? He glanced back at the clearing, his eyes unable to detect the anomonalies from his new vantage point. No, the creatures were still here, he was sure of it. The only explanation possible was that the beasts had had riders, who had dismounted and left their rides to rest or die before moving on. If that was so, then the quarry he was tracking was even more dangerous than any Orc or Uruk-hai could ever be, possibly even more dangerous than the Nazgul.  
  
The only answers laid ahead, buried within the forest. He un-slung his bow and motioned for his fellow travelers to follow him as he took up the chase again. 


	6. Chapter 5

They paused finally, taking a break in the shadow of a boulder that jutted out from the rocky hills they had been climbing through since dawn that morning. Anagha leaned back against it, feeling the cold seep through her flight suit as she checked a print out of her uncle's map against the compass built into her crono. It spun uselessly, causing her to curse, and she stepped away from the shadow of the stone, glancing up at the sky to try to place their location.  
  
Leeni settled to the ground, sitting cross-legged as she took a drink of water. The forest was still eerily devoid of any life except for them and the wind stirring the trees about them, and she shifted nervously, glancing this way and that.  
  
Goldie, however, climbed to the top of the boulder, laying down flat along the top of it. His curly hair had fallen loose of its knot sometime during the trek, and stirred slightly in the light wind as he pulled out a scope from a pocket on his knee. He settled against his eye and looked through it back along the way they had come, frowning softly to himself as Anagha climbed up next to him.  
  
He nudged her knee and handed her the scope, pointing at something among the trees, still several klicks away from them. The Firrerre nodded and sighted in on it. Faintly, she was just able to catch a glimmer of movement underneath the trees canopy. They dashed quickly from shadow to shadow: too lithe and tall to be orcs, and she doubted the figures would tire as easily as men did. Elves.  
  
There was a chance they could still finish the mission. They weren't too far from their goal now: just a few more leagues and they'd be there. Then she could get what she'd come for and leave. They'd have to take a more roundabout way back to the x-wings of course, to throw their pursuers off their trail, but it could still be done.  
  
She sighed and snapped the scope closed, turning to find Goldie watching her intently. "We didn't come here to check on Yuuzhan Vong infestations did we?"  
  
Anagha didn't answer, but slid down the boulder landing closely to Leeni. Goldie followed her shortly, exchanging a brief look with Leeni as Anagha grabbed her pack. She brushed off her flight suit and straightened it, turning once again into the officer Wedge and Gavin had trained her to be. "Break time's over, let's move people."  
  
She broke into a brisk trot, leading them once more into the depths of the forest and closer to the shadows of the mountains.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Legolas and his company passed through a small clearing around mid- day, a large boulder in the middle of it casting no shadow in the noon sun. The elf paused next to it, running his fingers over its rough granite surface. Here and there the sun reflected off of small glints of mica, something his dwarven friend might have found interesting had he been by Legolas' side, but he focused instead on the traces of dirt that clung to the rough surface and the recently trampled grass underfoot.  
  
He nodded to himself: they weren't far behind now.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The sun was getting ready to set when they reached the caves.  
  
Hidden here and there amongst the rocks, cliffs, and tall pines, black maws stared at them, reminding Anagha of a space worm's mouth. Leeni skidded to a stop next to her, her jaw dropping in awe at the sight before them. Goldie walked up next to them, his expression worried and his eyes questioning as Anagha avoided his gaze.  
  
She studied instead the hillside before them: her uncles maps said that the entrances all led to the same cavern sooner or later. Now the only question was which entrance led there the fastest? Jalaal's journals and maps were extremely vague in that area. She double checked the coordinates against her compass again, and stared up at the hillside, studying the caves intently. Finally she settled on one not too far from them, a little to the left behind a dead stump and up some boulders. Tucking the compass away in her pocket she motioned her wing mates forward, pausing to push a small button on her commlink twice.  
  
"We're not exactly here to check on the population are we?" Goldie's question surprised Anagha, causing her to start as he bent to help her up a fairly tall boulder. Leeni was already walking up the next one, eyeing the obstacle uncertainly. Anagha shot him a glare then gripped his hand tightly as he pulled her to the top. Seeing her look, he smiled vaguely. "I didn't think so. I mean I can understand why we needed to land out in the boonies, but from what I remember we're heading in the opposite direction of anything with a remote chance of being populated. Those plains to the North-West looked fairly hospitable, and there was that one place, at the base of those mountains near the river." He continued as he followed his commander up the next few boulders.  
  
Up ahead, Leeni turned on a small hand held light to fight off the impending gloom at the Caves mouth.  
  
Anagha sighed, brushing sweat out of her eyes as she watched the young pilot. She should have never let the rookie go ahead. "Shut up, Goldie."  
  
"I mean, honestly, who would want to live in a cave?"  
  
"I told you to shut up, Lt. Kenner." Something was bothering her in the back of her mind, a sort of feeling like the shadows were watching them. She rubbed the back of her neck unconsciously then turned on her own light as they reached Leeni. The sun had nearly set, only a tiny sliver of orange could be seen on the horizon, and the land around them was covered with shadows.  
  
They should probably wait until morning before heading in, but they didn't have enough time. The elves could find them at anytime now, and they needed to get back to their x-wings soon. They would have to go in and hope that their followers weren't waiting when they emerged.  
  
She led them into the cave, trying to pick out the path ahead beyond the circle of her light. Goldie continued to babble along, his train of speech interrupted every so often by exclamation from Leeni as she stumbled over something or tripped in some puddle.  
  
A faint stench began to flow up to them from the chambers ahead. Anagha froze, she remembered that smell, the over powering cloying scent of rotting meat. Behind her Goldie gagged, "What died?"  
  
The light revealed a twisted corpse, a few slimy bits of skin and hide still clung to the broken skeleton, and a bright red eye was carved into the skull's forehead. Leeni shrieked and Goldie stifled a bitter curse, "Vong!"  
  
His voice echoed through the shadows and Anagha shook her head: the body was too small and not brutalized enough. Metal glinted here and there about it, imbedded into the bones: chains and large steel loops. The Vong would never touch anything artificial, and metal, while made up of different ores, was hardly a natural occurrence.  
  
A stone fell in the distance, splashing in an unseen puddle. A new scent drifted up to them: one of unwashed bodies, and ill treated leather. Pieces of rusted metal, creaked in the shadows, then fell abruptly silent.  
  
Slowly Anagha backed up towards her wing mates, her hand dropping to the reassuring weight of something hanging at her belt as she twisted her light around, trying to see into the distance. Goldie slid his blaster out of his holster, moving the setting from stun to high, while Leeni fumbled with hers, dropping her light in the process. A stone shot out of the darkness, knocking Anagha's light from her hand. Goldie cursed loudly and let off a shot that ricocheted in the darkness revealing luminescent eyes that shined back at them then shut.  
  
The Firrerre went for her own blaster, and not bothering to check her settings, she began to walk backwards to the entrance, forcing Leeni and Goldie behind her back as they moved. Something shifted in the shadows to the side and with a loud snap their last light went out.  
  
Their attackers rushed forward and the cave became filled with guttural yells and shouts. The metallic cylinder slipped from Anagha's belt with ease, even as she let off her first blaster shot she snapped it on with a practiced flick of her thumb.  
  
A bright golden blade illuminated the darkness as she blocked a poisonous arrow, the sudden light both blinding and revealing their opponents: short, misshapen goblins that her uncle and the elves of her youth had whispered stories about. With a muttered oath she felt her face go pale as she recognized them.  
  
She had led them straight into the lair of Orcs. 


End file.
